Iowa City Kmart to close in September

The Kmart store on Iowa City's south side will close in September, a Sears Holdings spokesman said via email Tuesday.

In his email Howard Riefs said the company has made "the difficult, but necessary decision to close the Kmart store at 851 (Highway) 6 East in Iowa City. The store will close to the public in early September."

The number of store employees, whom Riefs said are mostly part-time or hourly employees, is not publicly available, he said in the email. He also said eligible employees will receive severance and can apply for positions at area Sears or Kmart stores.

"We have been strategically and aggressively evaluating our store space and productivity, and have accelerated the closing of unprofitable stores as previously announced," Riefs said in his email.

According to the company's store locator map, the remaining Kmart locations nearest Iowa City are in Marshalltown and Oelwein. There also is a store in Moline, Ill., about an hour east of the city.

The Iowa City store will begin its liquidation sale on June 15.

At the beginning of this year, Sears Holding, which also is the parent company of Sears stores, announced it would close 150 stores. USA TODAY reported that closures would include 108 Kmart and 42 Sears locations in 40 states. Kmart stores Dubuque, Sioux City and Waterloo were included in the initial announcement.

According to those reports, in March the company filed a notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it had "substantial doubt" about its ability to stay in business under current circumstances.

Reach Andy Davis at 319-887-5404 or at aldavis@press-citizen.com, and follow him on Twitter as @BylineAndyDavis.